The Impact of Extroversion/Introversion Tendencies on EFL Students' English Oral Production

Man as a social being possesses such faculties as thought, attitude, motivation and senses which affect his behaviour especially in learning and teaching. These affective variables have not been adequately investigated in the study of foreign language learning. Social variables, extroversion/introversion, might be keys to the understanding of the social nature of foreign language learning. This study aims at exploring the relationship between introversion/extroversion tendencies of Iranian BA students of English major and their proficiency in English oral reproduction as a foreign language (EFL). 120 male and female EFL students of BA program in Zahedan state university participated in this study. Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) was utilized, so the participants were chosen from a deprived region to make sure that other variables such as participation in private classes and language institutes had no role or effect on their knowledge of English and their oral English reproduction. The first instrument in this research was Oxford Placement Test (OPT), based on the result of which 60 out of 120 students were selected and exposed to Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). The data obtained from the students' oral reproduction and EPI were subjected to t-test and descriptive statistics. As the analysis of the data showed, 16 out of 60 students were extroverts and 44 out of 60 were introverts. There were no significant differences between both groups in their performance in English oral reproduction. According to the results, it can be concluded that introversion or extroversion tendencies do not have a significant role in the students' English oral reproduction; therefore, it is not necessary for teachers or lecturers to pay a special attention to whether the students are extroverts or introverts as they are not important factors on oral reproduction of students.Pedagogical implications are provided.

Nasrin Shokrpour

I am an associate professor in applied linguistics, lecturing in English department of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. I am the holder of an MA in TEFL and PhD in applied linguistics from Sydney University, Australia. I am the coauthor of many ESP books and attended many international conferences.